Vehicle manufacturing operations involve assembling a wide variety of components together to build a vehicle. Many components may be assembled with fasteners or welded in place. Elongated components like hoses, tubes, wiring harnesses or other similarly shaped members may require a support intermediate the length of the component that is assembled after the ends of the component are attached to other parts.
Plastic hose clamps are known that have overlapping legs with a clip on both of the facing surfaces of the overlapping legs and a central generally cylindrical portion that is adapted to encompass a hose. One problem with this approach is that the overlapping legs of the clip are held in a spaced relationship to each other when the clip is engaged. The spaced relationship of the legs reduces the robustness of the radiator hose clamp and also increases the space required to accommodate the clamp.
Components parts used in vehicle assembly operations are designed to be easily and quickly assembled in accordance with the design intent and avoid installation in an unspecified manner. The component parts must also be designed to accommodate manufacturing tolerances and they must be designed and oriented to reduce the likelihood of any damage after installation.
The above problems and challenges and others are addressed by this disclosure as summarized below.